There's a scene in Boyhood in which Ethan Hawke drives his Pontiac GTO across a stretch of Texas highway, windows down, his son Mason (Ellar Coltrane) riding shotgun. Wilco's "Hate It Here" cranks on the stereo. Hawke's character, like many American fathers before him, attempts to annotate rock and roll. Specifically, dad rock and roll. "Listen to the production!" he says, comparing it to Abbey Road. It's a deep cut from Wilco's 2007 record, Sky Blue Sky. The song is about a suburban patriarch feeling lost at home while his wife is away. What am I gonna do when I run out of shirts to fold? / What am I gonna do when I run out of lawn to mow? Jeff Tweedy's lyrics synchronize with Hawke's character in the movie: He's a dad coming to terms with being a dad. It's one of several musical moments throughout the film in which director Richard Linklater uses pop music to both orient his audience within the plot's 12-year sweep and augment his narrative. "You know when it works," Linklater told Time last year in an interview about the effort that goes into choosing music for his films. "You know it when you finally crack it."

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Boyhood is nominated for six Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Editing, and Best Original Screenplay. It is not nominated for Best Soundtrack because that category does not exist, though if it did, Boyhood would be the film to beat. (Pay no mind to that omnipresent oooh-gah-cha-kah Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack.)

In praise of what Boyhood achieved musically, here's a look at 12 unforgettable soundtracks from the 12 years in which the film takes place.

Lost in Translation (2003)

Why it works: Bill Murray's late-'90s/early-aughts run cemented his status as an indie god, and he owes some of that to the moody, synth-y music of Lost in Translation that made even his lamest moves look cool.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

Why it works: Who would have thought that all of these David Bowie songs might actually sound better when stripped of their glam, grit, and sung in Portuguese?

Runners up: Garden State, Dig!

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Hustle & Flow (2005)

Notable artists: Three 6 Mafia, E-40, Juvenile, Mike Jones

Why it works: Three 6 Mafia won the Oscar for "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," sending host Jon Stewart into hysterics. Besides that: Terrence Howard, who appears on the soundtrack, can draw a through-line between his present success with Empire and his Hustle & Flow character DJay.

Runners up:Wedding Crashers, Walk the Line, Broken Flowers

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The Departed (2006)

Why it works: Scorsese and the Stones will always go together, but the spooky intro of "Gimme Shelter" bubbling up beneath Jack Nicholson's opening narration is one of the best scenes in the whole damn movie.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

Why it works: Beck wrote all of the songs for Michael Cera's fake onscreen band, Sex Bob-Omb, effectively inhabiting his inner high schooler (who, in all likelihood, would probably idolize someone like Beck).

Runners up: The Fighter, Winter's Bone, The Kids Are All Right

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Drive (2011)

Notable artists: Cliff Martinez, Kavinsky, Desire

Why it works: This one is technically more of a score than a soundtrack, but former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Cliff Martinez created a brilliant collection of songs that easily stand on their own (with a few guest spots, too).

Runners up: Bridesmaids,The Descendants

Argo (2012)

Why it works: Have you ever seen a more romantic vision of California than in the scene below? Later in the film, Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" serves as a lead-in to the climactic escape sequence. Both songs are worth every penny of whatever Ben Affleck spent on the rights.

Runners up: Moonrise Kingdom, Django Unchained, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Frances Ha (2013)

Notable artists: David Bowie, T. Rex, Paul McCartney, Harry Nilsson

Why it works: Even if Noah Baumbach is too twee for your taste, this one is worth watching, if only for the running scene below. Greta Gerwig offers a simultaneously contemporary and timeless glimpse at what it's like to be young in New York City.